


with her sweetened breath

by HuiLian



Series: ATLA AU [2]
Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Bending (Avatar), Detective Work, Drugs, Gen, YeetDC2020, bruce is barely there but he's mentioned, but still there so I thought I'd tag it, most of the relationships are because they are working together, so not particularly focused on their relationships, the bats actually being detectives and solving a case
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:29:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23963896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HuiLian/pseuds/HuiLian
Summary: With the threat of an airborne drug, the Batfamily has to fight against the clock to contain it.or, I found a plot hole in a previous fic and decided to write 5k of words to remedy that, but instead created much, much more plot holes.
Relationships: Cassandra Cain & Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson & Barbara Gordon, Dick Grayson & Cassandra Cain, Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson & Stephanie Brown, Dick Grayson & Tim Drake, Jason Todd & Stephanie Brown
Series: ATLA AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1727689
Comments: 10
Kudos: 58





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> In Flameo, Batman! I wrote about how Oracle can only narrow possible locations to 5, which means that the kidnappers are actually good, but then I didn't deliver on the fight scene. So I decided to write this, and ends up with 5k of the batfam actually being detectives. This is written almost in a S.W.A.T. like style, because my dad is obsessed with that show and so I watch it too. 
> 
> title from Hozier, Angel of Small Death and the Codein Scene. I thought it's fitting, since this fic is about drugs.

“Hey, Red, is it important? I’m kind of in the middle of a stakeout.” As he says that, Dick sees movement from inside the house. He really cannot keep talking to Tim, not if he wants to get as much information from this stakeout as possible. But Tim rarely calls in the middle of patrol, so Dick is assuming that this is important.

“Oh. Not really. I just want to give you a heads-up about B’s kidnapping a few weeks ago. Turns out there’s more to it than just the kidnapping.”

Dick curses under his breath. He knows that that rescue attempt was too easy for an organization that managed to fool Oracle. “Okay. Do you need me there? I can wrap this up in a few minutes if you need me.”

“Nah, I think between Hood, BB, Batgirl, me, Robin, and Batman, we pretty much got it covered. Just keeping you in the loop.” 

“Alright, Red.” If Tim says they can handle it, then they can handle it. Besides, Dick has his own cases to work through. “Thanks for the info. Call if you need help?”

“You’re welcome, N. And sure, I’ll call if we need help.” 

***

“Nightwing! Get your ass here now!” 

“Hood? Is something wrong?” It’s been a few days after Tim calls about Bruce’s kidnapping, but since there were no other calls about that, Dick assumes that they are handling it.

“Oracle’ll brief you on the way, she’s currently tied up in something else. Just get your ass here now,” Jason practically shouts to the comm. 

“Is this about the kidnapping case?” Dick asks, just to be sure. 

“Just get your ass here, Dickwing! We need you here yesterday!”

“Shit, is it that serious?” Dick grabs the keys to his bike from the table. It’s lucky that he’s staying in today, working on connecting leads to the murder case on Young Street. If he’s out on patrol, it would take much longer to get to the bike.

“Oracle’ll give you the full briefing in a couple minutes. I’m also currently in the middle of something…” 

Two explosions, one after the other, come in from Jason’s end. It was loud enough to be heard over the comms. 

“Hood, are those gunshots?”

“Like I said, I’m currently in the middle of something. Just go to Gotham, we’ll meet you at the Cave.”

“Be careful, Hood.” 

“Yeah, yeah, see you there, ‘Wing.” 

***

“Okay, run this by me again.” Dick runs his hands through his hair. “The group that took B a couple of weeks ago is actually part of a larger group? That’s trying to get drugs spread across Gotham?” 

“Yeah.” Tim shrugs. “Their original plan was to distract us, GCPD, and basically the entire city with Bruce Wayne’s kidnapping. We found broadcasting equipment in the warehouse B was held in. But we rescued B fast enough that they couldn’t really use his kidnapping as a distraction, so now they have to find a new distraction.”

“And their new distraction is to  _ blow up the bridge _ ? Haven’t we been through this before?” Dick remembers another case that he works with Tim that involves blowing up the bridge. He is not looking forward to repeating that. 

Tim grimaces. “You have to admit, blowing up the bridge is a pretty big distraction.” 

It is a big distraction. Not that Dick is going to admit that now. “How do we know this again? And how did we miss that they are part of a larger group?” Dick turns to Babs, who hasn’t stopped typing into the Batcomputer since he got here. 

“Since I am very rarely wrong, I found it suspicious that I found five hits to the possible location of B’s kidnapping, considering how easy you took them out.” That was Dick’s thought too, but he didn’t actually stick around long enough in Gotham after they ‘rescued’ Bruce that he got to say that to anyone. He could blame his abundance of cases in Blud, but he really should have said something. Thank god Babs also finds that odd. “I sent Steph to investigate the four ‘not-it’ warehouses. She found traces of this drug there. It’s a more potent version of fentanyl, almost up there with carfentanil. It has a similar composition to the bloodwork from an OD case a few months ago.”

“We thought it was just a guy experimenting with fentanyl and accidentally OD-ed himself, so we didn’t dig too much into it then,” Tim explains. 

“I’m guessing that is not the case here.”

“No.” Tim sighs. “That guy was actually part of the group that kidnapped Bruce. He either stole some for himself and misjudged the dosage, or he was the guinea pig for this drug. We have no time to investigate his death now, not with this new drug threatening to spill on the streets tonight.”

“Tonight? What are they planning?” Dick came to Gotham prepared for any situation, so this information that he is going to have to act sooner rather than later comes as a confirmation rather than information, really. He’s been preparing himself for it as soon as Jason called him. But still, it would have been nice to have been called for something that’s not as immediate as tonight once in a while. 

“They’re going to release this drug to the air. They have an airbender, which makes it so much easier for them,” Babs says. Airbender plus airborne drugs equals very bad news, especially with drugs as potent as carfentanil. It can cause hundreds of OD cases throughout the entire city. Is Gotham not already crazy enough for these people? “We think that they want to get the entire city hooked on this drug, then sell it to them at a very high price.” 

“Damn. Tonight, you say? Is there why it’s only the three of us here?” 

“Yeah. B’s with Cass and Damian coordinating with the GCPD on containment and evacuation.” Tim points to three dots, designated Batman, Robin, and Black Bat, on the GCPD building up on the map. 

“Smart. Cass and Damian may be the only ones capable of containing this kind of scenario.” 

“Steph and Jason are out on the docks, trying to scare some of the goons to giving up their boss’ location.” Tim points to another two dots. These two are actually moving pretty fast. Dick assumes that the two of them are chasing some goons. 

“Wait,” Dick frowns, “we still don’t know their location?” That can’t be good. 

“We figured out the locations of some of the caches they put to be released to the air, but we can’t guarantee that that’s all of them. And, considering the sizes of the warehouses that were used to store the drugs and the caches we’ve found, there’s still a significant amount of drugs missing. Those must be with the boss,” Babs says. 

“Which is why I’m here with Babs, trying to track them down. Also, it seemed that this drug is flammable, so I thought it’s prudent to stay out of the field.” 

Tim actually has remarkably good control over his fire and he can fight just fine without his bending, all of them could, but Dick currently does not have time to debate that. He files it in his mental note for a later date. “Okay, what do you need me to do?” 

Babs and Tim look at each other. “A third pair of eyes won’t hurt,” Tim says.

“Don’t you think it’s better for him to be out on the streets? Hood and Batgirl haven't checked in yet, they might be in trouble.” 

Right as Babs finished that sentence, the Cave’s speaker turns on. “Hood to the Cave, Hood to the Cave.” 

“Speak of the devil,” Babs says. 

Dick presses the mike button on the cave, then says, “Come in, Hood.” 

“Oh, good, you’re here, ‘Wing. O, Red, we got several locations, but they’re all contradicting each other. I don’t know how useful this is going to be.” 

“Any additional data is going to be useful, Hood. Where is it?” Babs opens a new window on the Batcomputer, ready to type in and analyze everything Jason is going to say. 

“One said that he’s on Crime Alley, 31st Street. Another one said he’s camping near Arkham, just a few blocks from it. One said he’s on the grounds of Gotham U.” 

“Fuck him very much for that, by the way. Who tries to release drugs on university grounds? Haven’t college students suffered enough?” 

“Focus, Batgirl.” 

“Right. Some of them said he’s on Robinsville, but some also said he’s on the Bowery, King’s Street. For all it’s worth, all of them seemed very sure about their answers, and they’re all also confused about why their fellow henchmen are giving out different answers.” 

“How sure are they?” Tim asks. 

“Sure enough that the firebenders are willing to get iced,” Jason says grimly.

“Damn.” 

“Yep.”

“How come this guy is in five places at once?” Babs frowns at the screen. “Maybe these are just decoys?” 

“No, I don’t think so, Babs. For a firebender to be willing to get iced, they must be super sure of themselves. Even  _ I _ don’t want to get iced.” Tim shivers. Dick knows for a fact that Steph has once iced Tim, so Tim is speaking from memory at that one. Dick has been iced before too, but the experience is totally different for a firebender, what with their source of power being the fire inside and all. “Oh, that reminds me. Hood, please tell me you didn’t actually ice them.” 

“Nah, Replacement.” Tim sighs in relief. “Blondie here did.” 

“What!” Tim exclaims. 

“Shut up, Hood! I can and will ice you too!” 

“Try it, Blondie. I’m a waterbender too, remember?” 

“Children,  _ focus _ ,” Babs says. “Let’s assume that this guy  _ is _ in five places at once. How is he doing that? Meta powers? Spirit world connection? If he has a spirit world connection this case might just turn out to be worse than it already is.” 

“Wait,” Dick says, tracing the five places Babs has highlighted on the map. “What if he’s not in five places at once?”

“Are we not acting on the assumption that the henchmen are giving accurate information?” Babs looks at him. 

“It can be accurate without him being in five places at once, Babs. What if he’s just moving between these places so fast that when they check in to see where he is, they all get different answers?” 

“Huh. That is certainly more plausible. But the speed in which he must have moved suggests that…” 

“He’s an airbender. Only airbenders can move that fast. It tracks, though. We already know they have an airbender to release the drug. That airbender is just the boss.”

“If he’s the airbender, he can make sure that he inhaled none of the drugs himself. Oh!” Babs claps her hands. “That’s genius, Former Boy Wonder!” 

“Hey, I’m a former boy wonder too!” Jason cries out. 

“Same here!”

“I literally had the longest run as Robin, after N here,” Tim adds. 

Babs sighs. “You guys really are children, aren’t you? Someone not me please tell Batman about this. I’m going to run an analysis on airbenders outside the League who’s in Gotham right now. There shouldn’t be too many of them.” 

“Speaking of the League,” Dick turns to Tim, “are we sure it’s not them?” 

“I don’t think so, ‘Wing. This is not their MO.” 

“Yeah. Besides, neither Talia nor Ra’s have any interest in these kinds of drugs. I don’t think it’s them.” 

If both Tim and Jason, their current resident expert on the League, say that it’s not the League, then Dick is inclined to believe them. They have spent a considerable amount of time with the League to not pick up on their tendencies. “Okay. Let’s rule out the League for now. Any hits yet, Babs?”

“No. There are still quite a few airbenders around, even discounting the League, you know?” 

Dick nods. Even though most of the airbenders are present in the League, there are still several groups outside of the League who have their own airbenders. Not to mention the occasional airbenders who’re not affiliated with any of the groups but still managed to master their craft. 

Then, the Cave is bathed in red light, with alarms sounding from all the speakers in the Cave. 

Dick curses. “What’s that, Red?” 

“It’s Bruce’s alarm. Whoever he is, he’s making his move now.” 

“Alright, Hood, Batgirl, head over to B’s location now. I’m also moving out right now. Red, you coming?” 

“No, I’ll look into containment options other than airbending from here. I’m not risking a city wide fire.” 

Dick nods. He really needs to have that conversation with Tim about why he doesn’t want to go out to the field today, but that unfortunately has to wait. “Oracle, keep us posted. B’s in GCPD headquarters, yes?” 

“That’s what his last location is. His tracker is down.” 

“What about Robin’s? Or Black Bat’s?” Dick asks. 

“They’re still at GCPD.” 

“Okay. I’m heading to GCPD now. Hood, Batgirl?” 

“Already on our way, ‘Wing!” Steph says. 

“Good.” Dick mounts his bike and zooms out of the Cave door that either Tim or Babs must have opened for him. He tries to hail Bruce on the way to GCPD. “Nightwing to Batman, Nightwing to Batman, come in.” 

Silence. 

Dick tries again. “Nightwing to Batman, Nightwing to Batman, come in!” 

The same as before, silence. The fact that both Batman’s tracker and his comm are down is very concerning, especially at nights like this, when Bruce knows he has to communicate with the entire family. 

“Shit. Oracle, Batman’s not answering. When did his tracker go down?” 

“His tracker went down right before he pinged the Cave,” Babs says. “Try hailing Robin. I’ll hail Black Bat. Maybe they know where Batman went.” 

“‘Kay, O. Nightwing to Robin, Nightwing to Robin.” 

Static. At least it’s not silence, which meant that Robin still has his comms, he just can’t reach it to answer. That’s marginally better. Still not reassuring, though. 

“Oracle, I’m getting static from Robin’s com.” 

“I’m getting the same thing from Black Bat’s com. Maybe they are in the middle of containing the drugs? That would make them unable to answer the coms.” 

Dick wills his bike to go even faster, even as he’s already riding at breakneck speed. “Maybe, O. Let’s hope it’s not something worse.” 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

Dick sees the massive cloud first. Then, he sees the two figures standing beneath it. “Robin! Black Bat! Are you okay?” 

“Yes, Nightwing. We’re fine,” Damian answers. 

“Alright. Sitrep, Robin, if you can do it while still doing  _ that _ .” By that, of course, Dick means the massive cloud that Dick is going to assume to be the drugs that have been released to the air. It doesn’t look like Damian and Cass are struggling, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry. Dick can always get information from someone else, but he can’t risk destroying his siblings’ concentration, or the drugs are going to hurt a lot of people, including his siblings. 

“Tt. Of course I can, Nightwing. This is one of several drug caches. The perpetrator managed to detonate this before we found him, but Batman took the detonator from him, so we don’t have to worry about other caches blowing up. Then Batman went in pursuit, leaving me and Black Bat to contain the already airborne drug.”

“Good work, Robin, Black Bat. Think you guys can hold it for a while longer?” 

Damian scoffs. Cass even makes a face. “Of course we can, Nightwing. This is child’s play for now.” 

Right. League training. Wait. Did Damian just say...“For now, Robin?” 

“This will become exhausting in the long run, but we can hold it, for now.” Dick can’t help but think at how far Damian has come, actually admitting his limits now, instead of just plowing through them. However, that sentence is really not reassuring, especially with the drugs already airborne. 

Dick turns to Cass, who is normally better at actually knowing her limits. She nods at him. Okay, then. Dick trusts them to know their limits. If they say they can hold it, they can. “Red, are you seeing this? Any idea how to contain it long term?” Dick says to his comm. 

“Hold on a minute, ‘Wing. I’m trying out several options, but nothing conclusive yet.” 

“Wow,” Steph, who has just arrived, says, “that’s a huge cloud of drugs. We passed Batman on our way here, by the way.” Steph shrugs a shoulder dismissively. 

“Is he okay?” Dick asks. 

“He seems to have things under control on his end. He told us to go help you guys,” Steph says. Jason, who is a few steps behind Steph, nods to the massive cloud hovering above their heads, as if making a point about their need for help. 

Dick can’t argue that they do need more help than Bruce. But still, he says, “That’s good to hear,” because Bruce very rarely lost both his comms and his tracker, so Dick assumes the worst whenever he does. “Any ideas on how to contain this, Hood, Batgirl? Red and Oracle are on comms, trying to figure this out too.” 

“Is it soluble in water? We can douse this cloud in water. At least it’ll make it not airborne anymore,” Steph says. Dick admits that the idea sounds both promising and feasible, with the two waterbenders with them now. 

“It’s soluble in water,” Oracle chimes in from the comms. Thank god. Dick can think of several other ways to contain this cloud of drugs, but all of them rely on Cass and Damian to hold it for an extended period of time, and Dick would rather avoid that. At least if it’s no longer airborne they can work on a longer-term solution while not worrying about hundreds of people getting accidentally OD-ed. 

Jason shakes his head. “The water splashes are going to go down this building. There’s still people underneath us.” Right, so they have to think of ways to keep the water on this roof. That’s not too hard. Dick can just bend the roof to form a high enough barrier that none of the water is going to splash out. 

Before he can say that, however, Tim chimes from the comms,“Oh, and this drug can seep through walls. So if you want to douse it in water, don’t let it touch any walls. It’ll stay there for years.” Damn it. Change of plans, then. 

“Can you not douse it in water while we’re still keeping it inside this cloud? Dissolve it in the air?” Damian asks. 

“We can do that,” Jason shares a look with Steph. She nods. 

“It is too big,” Cass says. “Won’t fit the doors.”

“We can separate them into many blobs of drug filled water,” Steph shrugs. 

“Then too many. They can run into people,” Cass says. 

“Black Bat’s right, unfortunately,” Babs says. “There are hundreds of people inside this building as of now. We can’t risk it crashing into them. Not that I doubt your control, Hood, Batgirl, but there’s just too many variables here.” 

Wait. Dick has another idea. “Say, O, this drug isn’t corrosive, is it?” 

“No, I don’t think so. Red?” 

“It’s corrosive to iron and all its derivatives, according to my simulations,”Tim says. 

“What metal is it not corrosive to?” 

“Precious metals, mostly.” Several typing sounds later, Tim says again, “Oh! Aluminium would work too!” 

“You have an idea, Nightwing?” Jason asks. 

Dick nods. “Make a container to hold that cloud in, dissolve it in water, then have you pull out the water without pulling out the drugs, reducing the volume, then we can transport it. We can get aluminium from cars parked downstairs. There’s a few of them there.” 

“You’re going to have to make a big ass container.” 

“Well, if that’s what it takes.” Dick smiles grimly. “Can you separate the drugs from the water after you dissolve them?”

“Yeah, it’s not that hard. We’ll have to leave a bit of water in to make sure it doesn’t go airborne again, but it’s doable.” 

“Good. Robin, Black Bat, did you catch the plan?” 

“Yes. Hurry,” Cass says.

Dick turns his attention towards the two of them. Damian is starting to show signs of exhaustion on his face. Shit. They have to do this as fast as they can. If they’re not done before Damian loses his control, then Cass would have to hold the cloud alone. Not that Dick doubts Cass would hold on as long as she can, but holding that large of a cloud by herself would put too much strain on Cass. The amount of time she would be able to hold that cloud alone would be very small. It’s highly unlikely that they are going to finish dissolving the drugs before Cass also loses control. 

“Hood, Batgirl, find enough water to dissolve that cloud. I want you ready as soon as that cloud is inside the container I’m going to make.”

“Sure. The tap?” Steph asks Jason. 

Jason nods. Dick leaves them to their devices. He has a job to do, which is finding enough aluminium to make a container big enough for that cloud, and that means wrecking a few cars. 

“Can you make note of which cars I’m wrecking, O? I’m sure their owners don’t deserve to have their cars destroyed.” 

“Eh, you’ll be surprised, ‘Wing. But sure, I’ll make note of them.” 

Dick takes a deep breath and adjusts his stance. Bringing that much metal up to the roof of GCPD is going to take a lot of power, not to mention picking out only the aluminium. He still has to shape the aluminium once it’s up, but that’s child’s play compared to this. 

Legs apart, plant them deep into the earth. Feel the grains of earth between this place and the cars, and feel the grains of earth within the cars themselves. One, two, three cars should be enough. 

Plant his legs even deeper into the earth. Dick puts his arms in front of his face, notes every single speck of aluminium in those three cars, then pulls his arms apart. The cars break apart. 

Dick pivots on his legs, twisting his arms as he does so. He releases his control on the non-aluminium parts of the cars, and brings the aluminium from the three cars into one big ball. Then he bends his knees while lifting one arm up. The ball of metal goes flying up towards the roof of the GCPD.

“Incoming!” Dick yells. He turns to face his siblings, bringing the ball of metal over his head to the middle of the roof. Before it could land, Dick twists his hands, coaxing that ball of metal into a box. He then lands that box gently on the roof. 

As soon as the box is in front of them, Cass says, “Robin. On three.” Damian nods. He must be very tired that he just accepts the command without even any sign of his habitual protest. 

Even as tired as the two of them are-they have been holding that cloud for nearly half an hour-Damian and Cass move the drug cloud into the aluminium box in a stunning display of power, control, and synchronization. Once the cloud is inside, they flatten it so that it is roughly the shape of the box. Dick took over then, stretching the sides of the box just enough to bend it into a lid, leaving a small hole for Jason and Steph to pour water into. 

As he starts to bend water into the box, Jason says, “Don’t let go of that cloud until I say so, Black Bat, Robin.”

“Tt. Wasn’t planning on doing that, Hood.” 

“Just a reminder.”

With Jason and Steph working together-Steph taking the water from the tap on the roof of the GCPD and Jason feeding that water into the box-they manage to pour in enough water to dissolve the drugs. The problem now is just dissolving the drugs. 

It would have been ideal to leave the cloud still in Cass and Damian’s control while Jason and Steph work on dissolving it, but Damian is barely standing as it is. Dick makes a decision. 

“Can you bend the water from inside the box, Hood?” 

“Sure.” 

“Okay,” Dick says. “I’m going to close the box completely, making it airtight. You can dissolve it then. Robin, Black Bat, wait until my command to release your control of that cloud.” 

“Copy that, Nightwing,” Cass says. 

Closing the little hole on top of the box is not really a problem. Dick can do that in his sleep. The problem is making sure that the box is really airtight. Dick spends longer than he would have liked in checking every single connection he made on the box, making sure that nothing at all could go out. 

“Okay, Robin, Black Bat, the box is secure, you can release your control now.” 

As soon as he says that, Damian falls. Dick manages to bend a part of the roof to stop his fall before he lands face-first into it. Damian must be exhausted. 

From the side of his eyes, Dick can see Jason and Steph working to dissolve the drugs, but for now, his attention is on Damian. It looks like Cass’ is too, because she starts to run towards Damian at the same time as Dick does. 

“Are you okay, Robin?” Dick asks when he reaches Damian. He lifts Damian’s body up from the makeshift pole he created, then adjusts Damian in his lap. 

Damian sucks in a few breaths before he finally says, “I’m fine, Nightwing.” 

Cass, who reaches Damian just a few seconds after Dick does, thwacks Damian in the head. 

“What was that for, Black Bat?” Damian says indignantly. 

“You should have said something,” Cass retorts back. 

“I was not going to let you control that amount of drugs alone, Black Bat!” 

Cass huffs, thwacks Damian in the head again, although considerably gentler this time, then makes a face at Damian. “You still should have said something,” she says.

Damian mumbles under his breath, but he didn’t actually say anything back. Cass, being Cass, smiles because she knows she won this one. Dick agrees with Cass, in that Damian should have said something, but he stays quiet because at least this time, it isn’t him who has to scold Damian for it. He had said the same words to Damian hundreds of times during their stint as Batman and Robin, but Damian never actually listened. Maybe this time he will. 

“Oy, Nightwing!” Steph cries out. “We’re almost done here! We need you to open back the box of drugs so we can pull out some of the water!” 

With a glance at Cass, who nods at him, Dick stands up. Cass seamlessly takes Damian into her own lap. “Can’t we just leave it like this?” Dick asks. “I can bend the whole thing down. Why risk opening it?” 

“Because,” Babs’ voice chimes out in his ear, “this big of a box won’t fit in any of our transportation, even the plane, and I doubt you can bend it back to the Cave on your own, Nightwing. We can’t leave it here, it’s too much of a temptation for other criminals.” 

Dick sighs. “Why must you always be right, Oracle?” 

“That’s my charm.” 

Dick looks at Jason and Steph. “Ready?” They nod. “Let’s try to keep the opening as small as we can, shall we? Tell me how big of an opening you need.” 

“I don’t know, three, four inches in diameter? Would that work?” Jason turns to Steph. 

Steph frowns. “Sure, that should be okay. I’ll separate, you pull it out?” 

“Roger that, Blondie.” 

And with that, they are off. After he opens the hole, Dick basically has nothing to do, so he spends it watching Jason and Steph work. They work together well, which Dick is grateful for. After he met Steph, years ago, he thought of how similar she was to Jason, and how that must have messed with Bruce’s mind. Then he thought that it’s good that Steph and Jason never met, because they would either be best friends or mortal enemies. 

It looks like they are fast on the way to the best friends route, which Dick is still not sure is actually better than the mortal enemies route. It’s good to see the two of them working together, though, since once upon a time, Dick thought he had lost both of them. Cass seems to agree, dividing her attention between Damian and the waterbenders pair. 

“Okay, ‘Wing. We’re done,” Jason says. 

Dick nods, then starts the process of closing the opening and bending the currently large box into something smaller. “Wow, you guys sure manage to cut down the volume.” 

“Of course we can, Nightwing. Are you doubting our capabilities?” Steph crosses her arms, playing the offended part very well indeed. Dick just snorts, used to her teasing him. 

“Shall I just cut out the excess metal, or should I make the walls thicker?” Dick asks no one in particular. 

“Um, Nightwing? You might want to make it thicker,” Tim says, accompanied by sounds of frantic typing. 

“Why’s that, Red?” 

“Because I lied when I said this drug is not corrosive to aluminium. It’s mildly corrosive to aluminium in high concentration, which it currently is.” 

Dick curses. “Why didn’t you say that earlier, Red?” 

“Because I also just figured it out from my simulations?” 

“As usual, Red Robin is mistaken,” Damian says. He must be feeling better if he’s up to insulting Tim. 

“Watch your mouth, Robin!” 

Dick shakes his head, letting the sound of Tim and Damian fighting into background chatter. He concentrates on reinforcing the box of drugs he had in front of him, since it wouldn’t do to have it airborne again after spending so much effort to contain it. 

Tim and Damian are still arguing via comms when Dick finishes his task. He looks up to see Jason, Steph, and Cass have taken out their comms. All of them look ready to murder Damian, even just hearing half of this particular argument. 

“Okay!” Dick raises his voice to break the argument. “We’re done here, let’s go back. O, do you know where Batman is?” 

“He’s currently on Main Street, tying up Allan Howard and waiting for the GCPD to take him into custody. You all will also be pleased to know that GCPD did their jobs for once and neutralized the bomb on the bridge.” 

“Oh. That’s good to hear. So the one behind this all is that Allan Howard?” Dick says. 

“Yep. I already tipped the GCPD about him being an airbender, so they’ll arrive prepared to take him into custody.” 

“Good. Is Batman alright?” 

“Yeah, he’s fine, ‘Wing,” Tim replies. 

“Did he bring the Batmobile with him?” If he did, then Dick would steal another car to bring back the boxful of drugs back to the Cave. He is not going to bend the entire thing back to the Cave. Babs was right, there is no way he can bend it all the way to the Cave, even riding his bike. It’s simply too dangerous. One slip of his concentration and the entire thing will break, ruining everything they had done. It’s much safer to just plop the box to the backseat of a car and drive back to the Cave. 

“He did not,” Damian says. “But none of us have the key for the Batmobile.” 

“Oh, come one! Are you seriously telling me none of you have hotwired the Batmobile before?” Dick raises his hands in exasperation. “I thought I’ve taught better than this!” 

“I did jack the tires, once,” Jason says. 

Dick makes a face at Jason. “That’s old news, Hood. Okay, new lesson. How to hotwire the Batmobile. Come on! It’s going to be fun!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what is with that shit ending? I lost steam when writing that and didn't want to make this fic even longer, so sorry about that.   
> why is Tim hesitant to go out to the field? the answer is simply because I can't think of a way to fit firebending into this fic, and so I had to bench Tim for now. Maybe the in-universe reason will get written, eventually :D I told you I created new plot holes by trying to fix the one.   
> thanks for reading, and stay safe!   
> check out my Tumblr (huilian.tumblr.com)

**Author's Note:**

> this fic is written and I'll post the next chapter tomorrow! Stay safe people! 
> 
> check out my Tumblr (huilian.tumblr.com)


End file.
